After sending away Chi Sanye, Shen Xiangwan hurriedly went to decoct the medicine.
Xiaoqi had been busy taking care of Murong Xiude for a whole day. Now that Shen Xiangwan was here to replace him, he quickly gobbled down some dimsum and went to sleep.
After the medicine was decocted, Shen Xiangwan forced the medicine down Murong Xiude's throat by pinching his mouth open and poured it into his mouth. He barely opened his eyes throughout the process, drifting in and out of consciousness.
"Mother, don't go..."
"Ugh……"
Her cheeks burned in embarrassment as she stared at Murong Xiude’s hand which was tightly gripping her little arm. She tried to pry his fingers open, but to no avail. She sighed and muttered, “I’m so unlucky. That's it, I’ll sleep like this first."
She climbed onto his bed reluctantly and slept with her hands around him.
His small body snuggled into her as he noticed her presence, and he slept curled up like a kitten in her arms. She hesitated for a while and hugged him before falling into a deep slumber.
That night, Murong Xiude slept peacefully. It was the first time he slept well since his mother passed away.
The next morning, he woke up early with the sound of someone breathing beside him.
He slowly turned his head. With the faint moonlight shining through the window, he could clearly see the soft little face beside him. He smirked at the sight.
The little girl was sleeping soundly with her eyes tightly shut. She looked peaceful, without her usual coldness and pretense during the day.
Her gentleness made him unable to take his eyes away from her.
He reached out and gently touched her face. Perhaps because she didn't like being touched by someone, she shifted her head unhappily.
Her movements startled him, so he hurriedly retracted his hands and laid down beside her swiftly and obediently with his eyes closed, pretending to be asleep.
After a while, Shen Xiangwan woke up.
She glanced at the boy beside him, and tiptoed down the bed.
After she left, Murong Xiude opened his eyes.
He took a deep breath and breathed in the remaining scent of the little girl, then covered his mouth and giggled.
He felt safe with her by his side.
So this is what sense of security feels like.
He had already finished grooming up when Xiaoqi rushed in.
"Ninth Young Master, are you feeling better?"
Xiaoqi noticed that his little master still looked a little pale, but beamed in joy when he saw that his health had obviously improved a lot.
"Well, I’m feeling much better, I’m sorry if I scared you yesterday. Maybe I had been eating healthier recently, so I didn't have a lot of attacks. I thought it wouldn’t happen anymore, but it happened accidentally yesterday."
"Young Master, I called Sister Wanwan to—" Xiaoqi stopped himself quickly as he realised what he was about to say.
"Haha, it doesn’t matter as long as you are feeling better. Sister Wanwan said, from now on, you must be extra careful on your diet, and you need to keep your body warm. You cannot stay in cold weather anymore, so you cannot sit outside for too long."
Murong Xiu nodded. He will take good care of his body for the little girl.
"Xiaoqi, for so long, I have always thought that I am a burden to the people around me. I always felt that to die is always better than to live my life in constant tourture. But now, I suddenly feel that there are so many more things in life that made me want to hold on."
"Oh! This is great. Young Master, what makes you want to keep going?" Xiaoqi asked curiously.
However, his little master only smiled in silence. Holding a pen, he urged "Come on, we must write down all these words today."
"Alright..." Xiaoqi had a headache whenever he heard that they were going to study and write. He felt that he couldn’t keep up with his master anymore. Even though they were learning the same things, his little master absorbed them so fast, unlike himself who was a slow learner.
After leaving Jiaochi Garden, Shen Xiangwan couldn’t stop thinking about how to get that steward into Jiaochi Garden.
She couldn't ask him in person. She was already dealing with quite a few things in Jiaochi Garden.
If she were to get herself involved in more matters in Jiaochi Garden, people might notice.
"Xiaowan, the Lady wants to eat Ruyi cakes, please go and buy some for her."
Shen Xiangwan sighed as she received the order early in the morning.
However, her mouth watered at the mention of the delicacy. The cakes were really delicious, but because they were done so well, they were usually not easy to buy, and the price was very expensive. With her monthly pay as a housemaid, she couldn’t afford them.
It was already late when she received the order. As she didn’t want to miss the time to buy the cakes, she chose to use a narrow alley as a shortcut.
Suddenly, something on the ground tripped her as she walked.
She fell down hard, and her face scrunched in frustration.
When she saw a bleeding leg in front of her, she was so frightened that her whole body trembled.
It was early in the morning! Who was the unlucky person?
She looked around nervously to make sure it was quiet and there was no one else. Then she hurried forward.
Hands shaking, she placed a finger under the person’s nose, and when she found out the man was still breathing, she let out a sigh of relief.
After careful observation, she noticed the person’s leg seemed as if something had bitten a chunk of the flesh.
"Who is this unlucky person? He was bitten badly. Looking at his outfit, he doesn't look like he came from a well-off background. It doesn’t matter, I’ll try to help him get a cure. Whether he lives or not, that depends on his fate."
She didn't want to leave him helpless.
She bit her tongue and gently moved him into the dark. Her shift is in the afternoon anyway, so she can delay her task a little in the morning.
The person who fainted was a little boy who looked only one or two years older than her.
He was dressed in not-so-fine silk clothes, but she could see that he was neatly dressed. A jade pendant hung on his waist, it looked valuable.
There was a row of bite marks on his left leg. When she glanced around him, she saw a snake slithering nearby.
"What an unfortunate person."
She took out the small knife she had always brought along with her and cut through the wound to let it bleed. After squeezing the blood out, she sprinkled some medical powder from last night.
As she was preparing to bandage the wound, she heard footsteps approaching them.
Without delay, she quickly got up. If she were to walk out at this time, she will definitely be noticed. if the person who walked by was a passerby, it would be fine. But if it were the person who had harmed this boy…
Shen Xiangwan hurriedly hid in the garbage dump nearby without hesitation
.
Just as she finished hiding, the sound of hurried footsteps approached the boy.
Perhaps it was because she removed the poison from the boy’s wound earlier, so he was slightly awake.
She peered through the gaps between the trash, the person who came was another boy who looked about only eleven or twelve years old. She couldn’t see his face as he was facing her with his back.
The new boy slowly squatted down and poked his finger lightly at the injured boy who was still half-conscious.
" Brother... Don't... Please don't..."
When the injured boy saw the incoming person, his whole body trembled in fear, and he crawled away with his weak limbs.
Shen Xiangwan didn't dare to come out. How could this boy be so afraid of a kid much younger than him? He must’ve been hurt mentally that it left a scar in his mind.
"Big brother, aren't you very strong? Why can’t you speak now? Please talk to me, I will treat you very well."
"Little brother, little brother, I was wrong. I shouldn't bully you when you just arrived. I was wrong. Please forgive me, please, let me go!"
"Let you go? When you let me serve you like a slave, you didn't say to let me go."
"Little brother, I shouldn't have let you serve me in the first place. I was in the wrong. However, I didn't starve you or hit you. Brother, please let me go."
"Let’s ask this little fella and see if he wants to let you go. Come, come, it will give you the answer."
The boy laughed, sprinkled a lot of medicated foam on the boy’s wound, and then made a piercing scream. Shortly, countless scorpions, ants, and snakes crawled towards the boy’s wound.
"Don't... Brother, please, no. Let me go, please let me go..." The boy screamed, but as he opened his mouth, the boy who was laughing suddenly raised his hand. Shen Xiangwan’s eyes widened as she saw that there was an extra pinky on his left hand, and there was a touch of yellow. It turned out there was an extremely tiny snake!
The snake crawled into the boy's mouth, and soon, the boy screamed and screamed in horror.
"I told you that anyone who has offended me will not end well. Boy, open your dog eyes in the next life and see more clearly."
"Squeak..." there was a noise nearby. The boy swiftly turned around and stared at Shen Xiangwan who was piled up by the trash, his eyes were cold. He slowly walked forward step by step. “Come out, little thing..."